Views of History through time (offshoot of the WW2 Family Topic)

There are certain days of the year that matter more than others. July 4th, Christmas, etc. are universal among all generations. The era you were born decides the others. An observation while on my 45+ orbit around the sun.

I have a phone alarm set to go off at 18:18 GMT every December 7th. I turn everything off and sit in silence for a few minutes of reflection. Most years I watch either Tora, Tora, Tora or Final Countdown the night before or night of.

I see in my kids what most of my age saw. Gen X grew up learning a ton about WWII but very little about WWI (unless we went out of our way to study it). I see WWII, Vietnam, and to a lesser extent 9/11 being glossed over by schools. 9/11 was our Pearl Harbor and barely 20 years later the news channels can't be bothered to cover the yearly memorials uninterrupted.

We saw a ton of the "heat of the moment" type films rushed out in the first 10 years but nothing close to Tora, Tora, Tora or FMJ/Platoon. I remember the night OBL was killed...that was the last night that America was truly united. The video from outside the White House and Times Square looked like the "melting pot" that we should be. It's only 12+ years later and the chance of seeing that again is no better than me living long enough to see colonies on the moon. The Ukrainians could use a drone to kill Putin tomorrow and you'd have the same thing in the streets for that as we have for Israel-Hamas.